Roblox tests TikTok-like app so players can share game action

[NEW YORK] Roblox is testing a short-form video app similar to TikTok that will allow users to capture and share 30-second clips of their video-game play.

Roblox Moments, as the new app is called, will be available in a beta version, the company said at the start of its annual two-day conference for game developers in San Jose, California. Viewers will be able to tap in to join games they like. Roblox is making the source code for the app available to game developers so they can customise it for their products.

“Moments serves as a powerful engine for discovery, immersing users in inspiring, community-captured gameplay,” the company said.

Roblox has emerged as one of the largest players in video games, relying on independent developers to create new titles. The company has shared more than US$1 billion of the revenue the games generate with the developers over the past year. Roblox has 111.8 million daily active users.

There is already a large appetite for Roblox-related clips on sites such as YouTube, where such content has more than one trillion views.

Even inside Roblox, one of the most popular apps is a TikTok-like product called Clip It, made by Neura Studios. Clip It lets users edit Roblox content to make videos that users see in a feed. It generates revenue much like TikTok, with ads that run between the user-made clips. Roblox supported the development of Clip It through a grant from its fund for creators. BLOOMBERG